The centralization of various businesses and industries has resulted in an ever expanding need for the transport of articles of manufacture from the place of manufacture to the distributor, and ultimately to the consumer. While many types of products may be produced in several different areas of the country (e. g., processed foods), thus reducing shipping costs, many other relatively complex articles of manufacture are produced only in one or a very few areas, resulting in the need to ship or mail those articles to various other locations.
This is particularly true in the computer industry, where the manufacture of personal computers has been developed in a very few areas of the country, generally concentrated on the east and west coasts, due to the establishment of technological bases and expertise at those locations. As such products are universally in demand, the result has been the need to ship such articles relatively great distances across the country and internationally.
While such shipping and mailing requires no advanced technology for relatively sturdy devices, the use of existing shipping and mailing containers for computers and other relatively complex and fragile articles has resulted in a relatively high damage ratio for such articles in shipping. Often the reason for such damage is the penetration or deflection of the side walls of the shipping or mailing container, and/or the crushing of the container due to stacking of other articles thereabove.
The need arises for a container or package particularly adapted for the shipment or mailing of fragile articles, e. g., computers and the like. The package must provide relatively high compressive strength for the vertical side walls, and moreover must provide relatively high resistance to penetration and bending of the side walls. While it is important that the package be relatively inexpensive to manufacture and of relatively light weight to conserve shipping and mailing expenses, it is also important that the container provide for reuse for more efficient use of resources and greater economy.